¡Muu,Moo! Animal Nursery Rhymes

A col­lec­tion of animal-themed nurs­ery rhymes in Span­ish, from Spain and Latin Amer­ica, with Eng­lish trans­la­tions. If you liked Pio Peep, Merry Navi­dad, and Mama Goose, you’ll love Muu Moo!

Awards

Junior Library Guild Selection

Reviews

New School Library Journal

Pre-School-Gr 2: The cre­ators of ¡Pío Peep! (2003) and Merry Navi­dad! (2007, both Harper­Collins) have put together another trea­sury of Span­ish nurs­ery rhymes. ¡Muu, Moo! is a col­lec­tion of ani­mal rhymes that includes such beloved favorites as “Una paloma blanca” and “Debajo de un botón,” along with orig­i­nal verses by both selec­tors. Rather than a ver­ba­tim trans­la­tion of the Span­ish, the Eng­lish ver­sions retain the rhythm and musi­cal­ity of the orig­i­nals. Escrivá’s water­color illus­tra­tions include fun details such as a flea dressed up as a bride, a smil­ing snail, a frog with a big fly stuck in its mouth, and a danc­ing mon­key wear­ing a frilly yel­low dress. In addi­tion to being a per­fect resource for bilin­gual pro­grams, this book will be enjoyed as a bed­time read-aloud.–Rebecca Hick­man, Nova South­east­ern Uni­ver­sity, Fort Laud­erdale, FL

Latin Baby Book Club

June 2010 Libro del Mes / Book of the Month
This month, the LBBC will be cel­e­brat­ing nurs­ery rhymes and folk­tales. For most of us, these were the first sto­ries we learned and I would bet the major­ity of you still remem­ber them. In Latin Amer­ica, nurs­ery rhymes can be unique to a par­tic­u­lar coun­try, but most are uni­ver­sal through­out the Spanish-speaking world. These folk­tales are the rhythm and song of our cul­tural spirit and our chil­dren should be spoon-fed each one to nour­ish their cul­tural iden­ti­ties. As par­ents, we must start early to cre­ate pos­i­tive, happy asso­ci­a­tions with our Latino her­itage to com­bat much of what the world will tell them as they grow.

Just a few years ago, Latino folk­lore and nurs­ery rhymes were only avail­able by word-of-mouth. Today, we are lucky to have a grow­ing num­ber of authors and illus­tra­tors work­ing to doc­u­ment these pre­cious tales for future gen­er­a­tions to enjoy. So it is fit­ting, then, that our Libro del Mes be the lat­est release from two of the lead­ing authors ded­i­cated to cap­tur­ing the sto­ries of our Latino childhoods.

Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Cam­poy have pro­duced an incred­i­ble amount of books for the Latino children’s mar­ket. They are con­sum­mate sto­ry­tellers with what seems like an end­less num­ber of tales to tell. In ¡Muu, Moo! Rimas de ani­males, Ani­mal Nurs­ery Rhymes the authors once again team up with artist Viví Escrivá to bring you a clas­sic col­lec­tion of poems and sto­ries for chil­dren. ¡Muu, Moo! quickly brings to mind one of their pre­vi­ous col­lab­o­ra­tions, ¡Pio Peep! Rimas tradi­cionales en Español, Tra­di­tional Span­ish Nurs­ery Rhymes. This lat­est release con­tains 16 rhymes from Spain and Latin Amer­ica with full text in both Eng­lish and Span­ish. I appre­ci­ate the fact, how­ever, that the Eng­lish ver­sions are not lit­eral trans­la­tions, but rather poetic ren­di­tions that reflect the essence of the Span­ish orig­i­nal. For exam­ple, here is one of the shorter rhymes in the book, Pri­mav­era…

A tiny snail is wind­ing along,Stretch­ing his feel­ers toward the sun.When she sees the snail in bliss,A sun­flower leans over to give him a kiss.

A busy bee joins in the play,Buzzing over to say, “Good day!”Oh, what delights a day can bringOn this very first morn­ing of Spring!

I was also touched by the intro­duc­tion, where the authors state that “for Latino chil­dren, this book is offered as a bridge between their own child­hood and that of their ances­tors. To bear good fruits, we need strong roots.” What a bless­ing it is that we now have the oppor­tu­nity to share such beau­ti­ful words, thoughts and images with our chil­dren. I hope that you, dear reader, take advan­tage of the many books now avail­able to help your chil­dren estab­lish their “strong roots.”

Escrivá’s illus­tra­tions bring to life the soft­ness and inno­cence of child­hood. Her dis­tinc­tive work sub­tly cap­tures the feel­ing of the Latino cul­ture through the thought­ful details she gives to cloth­ing, archi­tec­ture, home décor, and landscape.

This book is a per­fect addi­tion to any bilin­gual family’s library. Both Eng­lish speak­ers and Span­ish ones will delight in the sub­ject mat­ter and the joy­ful illus­tra­tions. — Mon­ica, Latin Baby Book Club

Story cir­cle

¡Muu, Moo! is a bilin­gual col­lec­tion of sev­en­teen adapted tra­di­tional poems and nurs­ery rhymes, from Spain, Latin Amer­ica, and the United States, cen­ter­ing around ani­mals because the ani­mals inter­est the young child. Ada and Cam­poy have included a few of their poems as well. Instead of tran­la­tions, the authors include poetic ren­di­tions of the Span­ish orig­i­nals in Eng­lish, reflect­ing the charm of the orig­i­nals… More »